Now don’t get me wrong, I love social media.  I think there are endless opportunities for branding yourself, your company and yes… even marketing on social media, but today I want to talk about something a bit old fashioned….. manners.   What ever happened to manners or business etiquette?

Having spent the better part of the last year networking I am appalled when I hear some of the horror stories of today’s interview process for a new job.  Granted there are sometimes hundreds of people who are applying for one job, and I know it is impossible to give a personal response to each of them, but no response at all?  Since when is that a good idea?

Here is another one- you have an interview (either phone or in person) and you are told they will get back to you by “X” date.   Well “X” date comes and goes and guess what, no call, e-mail, letter, text…nothing.  So you start following up, once, twice, three times- (you see where I am going with this) but still nothing.  Since when is it okay to treat someone with so little regard?  How hard can it be to send a simple e-mail or return the call of someone who is curious about their status?  Remember this is someone who is interested in your company!   What does this lack of common business courtesy say about your company brand?   Is this the image you want to portray?

You can try to blame the economy and the increased number of applicants for your poor performance, but wouldn’t you rather be known as a company who has respect for it’s potential employees along with respect for its customers?

While the economy is a bit shaky now, things will turn around and people do talk- especially when they network.  There are some very talented people who are getting the run around today.  Maybe you are sitting there thinking, so what is one or two people bad mouth our company who cares….. well most likely it is more than one or two and they tell two friends and so on and so on.  And that doesn’t even count what is being tweeted about your company.

At the end of the day how do you want your company to be remembered?    Relationships are still the key to success and your brand image.  Why not make your brand stand out and do something old fashioned– have some manners!